Did not export vaccines at cost to India: Serum Institute of India
SII CEO’S REMARKS CAME AMID A RAGING DEBATE OVER SHORTAGES AND EXPORT OF VACCINES FROM INDIA.
The Serum Institute of India did not export vaccines “at the cost of the people in India”, its chief executive Adar Poonawalla said in a statement on Tuesday, amid growing criticism aimed at the government and vaccine makers for the millions of doses that were exported before the second wave hit.
Poonawalla also said SII may resume the export of the coronavirus vaccine Covishield by the end of the year.
“SII has delivered more than 200 million doses, even though we received EUA (emergency use authorisation) two months after the US pharma companies. If we look at total doses produced and delivered, we rank amongst the top three in the world. We continue to scale up manufacturing and prioritise India. We also hope to start delivering to COVAX and other
countries by the end of this year,” the statement read.
“We would like to reiterate that we have never exported vaccines at the cost of the people in India and remain committed to do everything we can in support of the vaccination drive in the country,” the statement added.
The SII CEO’s remarks came amid a raging debate over shortages and export of vaccines from India.
SII locally manufactures Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine under the brand name Covishield. The company currently has the capacity to produce about 60 million doses a month and intends to ramp it up to about 100 million doses a month in the next couple of months.
According to SII, there was a large stockpile of vaccine doses in January. India’s vaccination drive began successfully and the number of daily cases recorded then were at an alltime low. “Our Government extended support wherever possible during this period. It is this spirit that had initially led to cooperation between countries when the virus first emerged in the beginning of 2020,” he said.